The new R4i Gold 3DS Deluxe Edition is the second flash kit for the 3DS that supports the playback of 3DS ROMs. The card is manufactured by the R4iDS.cn team, the same team that manufactured the original R4i Gold (see my review of that here). This means it won't be another R4 clone card with no updates or support, but that it will have tons of firmware upgrades and support for new games.

Packaging

The R4i Gold 3DS Deluxe Edition (from now on R4i Gold 3DS for short) comes in a plastic blister packaging. It holds two cards and a USB microSD reader.

Correct 3DS Firmware

For this card to work you will need to have the correct firmware on your 3DS. The R4i Gold 3DS will only work if your firmware is anything from 4.1 to 4.5 (doesn't matter what region). This is a big con, because a lot of people will not be able to use it because they already updated their device for the newest games (newer games need certain firmware to launch). Luckily I didn't use my small 3DS since I bought my 3DS XL so it is still on firmware 4.4 and therefore compatible with the R4i Gold 3DS.

Features

Play 3DS backups on both 3DS and 3DS XL if you have the correct firmware

Play NDS backups with the black R4i Gold 3DS

Saves are stored on the SD card of the 3DS

The Two Cards

With the R4i Gold 3DS you will get two cards: the black one is the newest model of the R4i Gold with a different sticker and the white one is the actual card to play 3DS games with. The black card starts as a Japanese game as seen below. You will need the black card to prepare your 3DS for the white card. This function is integrated in the newest Wood R4i firmware. Once you did that you will need to download the actual 3DS firmware exploit file and place it on the 3DS's SD card. Now you can enter the exploit mode through the System Settings and the 3DS is ready for the use of the R4i Gold 3DS.

When you've set up your 3DS it is time for you to prepare a microSD with a 3DS ROM. You'll have to do this with a disk writer. Once you've written a ROM to your microSD, the white card will show up as the game written on the microSD.

Saving games

Like with the Gateway 3DS, you need to write ROMs on your microSD. This leaves no room for save files. Save files of the games are stored on the SD card of the 3DS. I tried writing a save file created with the R4i Gold 3DS to my original StarFox 64 3D cartridge but the save file was corrupted.

NDS Game Back Up Compatibility

I haven't tested NDS backups on the black card, because it's just an R4i Gold with Wood R4i which has a pretty much perfect backup compatibility so I'm sure it will play every game.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (USA): Worked perfectlyAdventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW! (USA): Worked perfectlyMonster Hunter 4 (JPN): Worked perfectly

Build quality

The build quality of both carts is quite good. You can open them up fairly quickly if you try to look inside the cards. They are both NDS cards, unlike the Gateway, whose 3DS card was an actual 3DS cartridge. Neither has a springloaded microSD slot, which is a con in my opinion. Now you will need to take out the whole cartridge to swap microSDs, which will quickly wear the gold contacts of the card. With a springloaded microSD slot you can just pop out the microSDs with your fingernail.

Firmware 3.0

The new firmware for the R4i Gold 3DS just got released: the 3.0 firmware. This firmware adds support for new games including The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Monster Hunter 4. It also adds a new feature called emuNAND, which will back up your system's NAND. This isn't possible anymore though, as Nintendo just launched it's new v7.0.0-13 firmware. With this new firmware you now have to hold down the L button while doing the system exploit to get into the R4i Gold 3DS menu. In this menu you can do a couple of things:

Boot R4i Gold Mode - Which'll allow you to play ROMs.

Boot Classic Mode - Which'll take you back the the normal menu.

Backup System NAND - This will backup your system's NAND.

Diagnostic Test - The R4i Gold 3DS will run some tests, but I don't know what they actually are.

Format emuNAND - This will format your SD card and your emuNAND.

The team also promised a new update before Christmas with multiROM seupport and more!

Conclusion

The R4i Gold 3DS Deluxe Edition is a great and cheaper alternative to the Gateway 3DS. It can play pretty much every single NDS game and almost every 3DS game.

Pro's:

Plays most 3DS ROMs.

Saves are stored on the 3DS device, not on the R4i.

Bundled with the popular R4i Gold.

Bypasses the regionlock.

Skips update sections of games

Cheaper than the Gateway (which is â‚¬70/$80) at â‚¬45/$60.

Cons:

You can only have one game per microSD.

Non springloaded microSD slot

Only useable on 3DS firmware 4.1.x - 4.5.x

Limited online play

Profile settings exploit must be used again when you turn the 3DS off.

After the card got the 2.0 firmware upgrade it can play games from other regions. This is, in my opinion, the best feature of the R4i Gold 3DS, because it bypasses the regionlock.

Final Score:78%

DS-Scene would like to thank Game4Deal for sending us a review sample.

This post has been edited by Kiekoes, Tue, December 10th, 2013 at 18:00

IMO, it's not worth it. The R4i 3DS Gold has astonishingly cheap build quality. As soon as I got it in the mail, I returned it like it was the plague. Extremely cheap plastic that's ready to snap at any moment. The DSTwo is similarly cheap, but luckily it has a little screw on it.

Maybe i'm spoiled because the Cyclo DS Evolution had quality as good as a real DS game, but man these people need to try harder.

IMO, it's not worth it. The R4i 3DS Gold has astonishingly cheap build quality. As soon as I got it in the mail, I returned it like it was the plague. Extremely cheap plastic that's ready to snap at any moment. The DSTwo is similarly cheap, but luckily it has a little screw on it.

Maybe i'm spoiled because the Cyclo DS Evolution had quality as good as a real DS game, but man these people need to try harder.

I actually think they're quite solid. Maybe you just have a weak batch or something.

IMO, it's not worth it. The R4i 3DS Gold has astonishingly cheap build quality. As soon as I got it in the mail, I returned it like it was the plague. Extremely cheap plastic that's ready to snap at any moment. The DSTwo is similarly cheap, but luckily it has a little screw on it.

Maybe i'm spoiled because the Cyclo DS Evolution had quality as good as a real DS game, but man these people need to try harder.

I actually think they're quite solid. Maybe you just have a weak batch or something.

Damn that sucks. :I

I get my flashcards from RealHotStuff. They're nice. Very responsive customer service.